James, Dunnichay start World Championships competition

Published 7:06 pm, Saturday, July 16, 2011

US Diving at Ft. Lauderdale, Fl during day 3 of competition Saturday, May 7, 2011. (Photo by Hans Deryk/US Diving)

US Diving at Ft. Lauderdale, Fl during day 3 of competition Saturday, May 7, 2011. (Photo by Hans Deryk/US Diving)

Photo: HANS DERYK

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Mary Beth Dunnichay

Mary Beth Dunnichay

Photo: Peter H. Bick

James, Dunnichay start World Championships competition

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Anna James has been assured that it's just another meet.

The platform is still 10 meters high, and there is a pool below.

It's nothing different than what she's practiced on at the Mabee Aquatic Center in Midland since she was 10 years old.

But then again, this is the World Championships in Shanghai.

It's the event that is the pinnacle for divers across the world in non-Olympic years and beginning later today (Monday in China) at 15 years old James will be a part of it. James will team with 18-year old Mary Beth Dunnichay in the 10-meter synchronized competition in China this week.

"I don't really think it's sunk in, because right now I'm still just excited about it," James said before leaving for China two weeks ago. "I haven't let the nerves hit me yet."

There will be some nerves when James and Dunnichay take their first dive on Monday morning in China in the preliminaries, but just to be at this point is something that even James wasn't quite expecting.

Less than a year ago, James was still diving in regional and national competitions at the junior level, but by the end of the year James had competed in her first national level senior event and was beginning to show the potential City of Midland diving coach John Proctor knew she had.

She earned a fifth place finish at her first senior event last year, and earlier this year, she was third at the winter nationals as an individual and fourth in synchronized diving.

That was only the beginning for James in her quest to qualify for the world championships, but for James mentally it helped her realize that she is really that good.

"You know, I think the curtains are starting to open to what her true potential is and where she can go," Proctor said. "It's starting to kind of come into focus. It's all happened so fast, but she's taking it really well."

James has taken everything in stride as she competes in just her second international competition this week. In her first international competition at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix where her and Dunnichay combined to win a silver medal.

What's been amazing is that the two have been paired less than six months in competition. James competed with Jessica Parratto earlier this year at the winter nationals. Then just prior to the grand prix, James and Dunnichay were paired together.

After winning the silver at the grand prix, the two then won the World Championship trials.

"I feel like we just naturally kind of sync up together," James said. "I think it's just really a natural thing because we have the same body type. We just do it and it works."

The pairing came about when Dunnichay's other partner, Haley Ishimatsu decided to take some time off, and USA Diving's Steve Foley decided to put James and Dunnichay together. He saw their potential during the grand prix, and now this week he said there is a possibility these two could be paired for the foreseeable future.

"I want them to train well, compete, have a good performance and see how they jell as a team -- they could be a long-term team," Foley said through an e-mail from China. "I want to get a good gauge of what the international community thinks of them. I want them to enjoy the moment. You never know. Sometimes those inexperienced teams who have nothing to lose really come through."

What has made the pairing work in such a short period of time is that both are driven, like to compete and are willing to do what it takes to win. That's something that Dunnichay said she noticed about James from the first time they practiced together.

"I don't want to say we are perfectionists, but we want to get everything right," said Dunnichay, who is 18 years old and will be a freshman at Purdue University this fall. "We are hard workers, and I think it's going to be really good. (James) is young and has that work ethic and if she keeps that she's going to go places, especially when she's older."

Still, though, James will be competing in a venue that's as large or larger than any venue she's competed in in her short career. Plus, she will be doing it in another country in front of a partisan crowd that will cheer for the United States' main rivals -- China.

Advice from Dunnichay has been clear, though, in that this meet is no different than any other one she's competed at in her career, it's just that the stakes a little higher.

"I feel like right now I'm actually ahead of where I need to be," James said. "I've worked really hard the past year, and just accomplished a lot more than I thought I would."